


Couthy Souls

by TheGalacticKitten



Series: Modern Papa Shanks [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bunches of it, Gen, Slow Updates, cursing, shanks adopts luffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGalacticKitten/pseuds/TheGalacticKitten
Summary: Monkey D. Luffy was only six when his grandfather was arrested for child abuse and neglect, leaving him with no family to his name.Then, almost exactly a year later, a new face arrives in his little town, and his world is turned upside down.





	Couthy Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for sticking with this !! i hope to provide even better content from here on out -- things will be changed and added as i see fit, and i'm going to try to make chapters even longer than before. this will prolly seem like a different story, tbh, but i wanna make it something i can be proud of ! so ! suffer
> 
> beta read by my boi hayden ! what a blessing

Monkey D. Luffy was only six years old when his grandfather was arrested for child abuse and neglect, leaving him with no family to his name. The Navy completely erased all documentation of Garp’s relations to the boy in an attempt to keep him out of the spotlight, knowing that the child the “Marine Hero” had failed to take care of would be sought after by the press if his identity had been revealed. That was probably the only _just_ thing they’d ever done.

 

Now, he was only seen by the world as a wild orphaned child that the poor barmaid at _Party’s Bar_ was left to take care of.

 

Though, in reality, Makino loved Luffy with all her heart; she saw him as her child, regardless of what others would whisper behind her back. She was a lovely and gentle woman with the smile of an angel, hands soft and careful as she would work and comfort others. Luffy adored her -- she was the only person who could _tame_ the child.  The other residents of their little oceanside town were more than intimidated by him; they’d grown to fear his grandfather, so what if he grew to be a monster like him? He was still small, and so were the other local children, but even they would shout harmful words his way and run as if he were going to slaughter them for it.

 

The loving woman’s days were spent working behind the counter, serving the shady, tired, and all-around wild people she’d grown to love. As much as she disliked having Luffy anywhere near them, fearing he’d be hurt, he insisted on sticking by to keep an eye on her, claiming the corner seat at the bar as his own nearly every day. She was as much a mother to him as he was a son to her, so he was going to protect her as she took care of him.

 

As the days would grow longer and the nights would grow warmer, no knocks at the door would be heard and he would disappear each night, only to bounce back into town with the energy of a thousand suns early each morning. His mother-figure would worry herself into a panic if he didn’t show up by sunrise, knowing that he rarely, if ever, slept in.

 

Luckily for her, she didn’t have to worry about him becoming sick; he had an immune system of steel. He was incredibly clumsy, though, so he’d often arrive at the bar with bruises, scrapes, and cuts here and there on his arms and legs. She would fuss and fret over him, carefully cleaning each with a tenderness he wasn’t used to and a love he’d never been shown by his grandfather. He couldn’t understand why the young woman would _kiss_ his injuries after bandaging them until she explained that it was to make them “better.” He still didn’t quite get it, but he’d acted as if he did, and she seemed relieved.

 

That was how his life went for a little under a year, until a new face showed up in the little town, flipping the boy’s sense of normality upon its head and shaking it around a few times.

 

The day had began the same as every other summer one had since his grandfather was taken away -- a morning bath in the clear little pond that the streams from the mountain fed into, grabbing some clean clothes and changing into them afterwards, and climbing a tree where he began scrounging through a backpack with his belongings to find something to eat for breakfast. The sun hadn’t risen yet; only the faintest rays could be seen peeking out from beyond the shoreline, so he still had some time to make his way back down through the forest and into town.

 

Finding a poptart, he pulled open the packaging and began scarfing down the food like he hadn’t eaten in a year -- an obvious lie -- before a sharp crack of a branch breaking under a heavy footstep filled the calm morning air ripped the young boy’s attention to his left. His lips immediately pulled back into an animalistic snarl as he saw a human figure making its way towards the tree - _his_ tree.

 

Small hands gripped the straps of the backpack as he silently slid it onto his shoulders and leaned into the trunk, eyes trained on the vivid red of the stranger’s hair. Watching carefully as they approached, he prepared to leap down on them, a tactic he’s used a few times on people who’ve wandered far too close to his special place.

 

With knuckles turning white due to the sheer strength those tiny, calloused hands were holding onto the tree with, he readied himself for the jump --

 

He fell forwards and onto the ground in front of the person, landing flat of his stomach in the dewy grass.

 

A startled yelp filled the air and steps backing away could be heard. “Holy shit -- are you --?”

 

The stranger was unable to finish their question as a small, red-faced child pulled himself to his feet and charged the much, much larger person he could now see was a ginger haired man with strikingly light blue eyes that seemed to glow in the pale light of dawn and a series of scars scoring over his left eye, easily juxtaposed against tan, freckled skin that had been well-loved by the sun. With a viciousness often seen only in wild creatures, the small child scaled him like a rocky mountainside and stopped only when he reached the man’s face, where he clamped his jaws down on his ear, hard.

 

That definitely surprised him, if his sharp shout of “damn it” was anything to go by as he reached and threw the kid off with a rough sort of gentleness.

 

“Makino was right! You _are_ a little devil!” Red-hair laughed, eyebrows pinched together as he held a hand to his wounded ear. Based on his overall expression, he’d likely be holding one on his ego if it were possible. At the mention of his almost-mother, Luffy straightened up, a wary look in his eyes; she wouldn’t tell just anyone about him, so why would she tell this man?

 

“How do you know Makino? Did you do anything to her?” Protectiveness swelled in his chest as he stared directly into the man’s eyes, deep gray boring into icy blue. If this man did anything to her, he’d regret it, and the boy would make sure of that. An eyebrow rose as the man let go of his ear, surprised that the runt would immediately jump to _protect_ rather than _question_. “Don’t worry, kid. We go way back -- we used to be the troublemaker duo in high school! I’d never hurt her.”

 

Anger and anxiety melted away and the boy fell onto his butt, letting out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good! I was afraid I’d have to fight on an empty stomach!”

 

The sudden shift in his mood caught the man off guard, but he laughed at the small boy until there were tears in his eyes. “Really? _That’s_ what you were worried about? You weren’t afraid of getting your a-- _butt_ handed to you by a bigger person?” He burst out, disbelief in his voice as he looked him over. “You’re a riot! You can’t have _actually thought_ you’d stand a chance against me, could you?” A pause as he took in the offended expression the younger wore, before he burst into wheezing laughter once again. “Oh my god! You’re so _stupid_!”

 

“Am not! I could take you down easy-peasy!” Luffy shouted, pulling himself back to his feet. “Try me! I can beat your ass with no trouble!”

 

Thirty minutes later the man walked into Party’s Bar with a livid child held under his arm, curses being spat at him left and right. Makino rushed over from behind the counter, immediately fussing over the young boy once he’d been sat down on the floor. “Oh, thank you for finding him, Shanks! Where was he? He didn’t cause you too much trouble, did he?” She questioned as she went back behind the counter to retrieve a first aid kit, Luffy reluctantly going to his seat and sitting down.

 

Shanks bellowed out a laugh. “He was in a tree! And he caused plenty of trouble, but mostly he scared the shit out of me by nearly falling on me!” He responded, grin stretching across his lips as he watched her motherly actions. “This one yours? Didn’t see you as the wild type, Maki!”

 

It seemed the question startled her and earned himself a place on the kid’s shit list, if his expression was anything to go by. “Wh --? No, no! Oh my god -- I’m just taking care of him, why would you _say_ something like that!” Makino covered her face with her hands, dark red spreading across her cheeks and her ears, mumbling incoherently as Shanks just _has_ to laugh at her reaction. He spares a glance over to the boy and absolutely _loses it_ \-- he’d never thought he’d be flipped off by such a small child, let alone one who actually knew what they were doing.

 

The dark-haired woman uncovered her face and gasped. “Luffy! You don’t do that to people! Apologize to Shanks right now!” She scolded, though she kept her voice soft, as if he would run like a mouse if she were to truly reprimand him. (He told himself that the small flinch from the child was just his imagination. A little voice in the back of his mind knew it wasn’t.)

 

Deciding to save the boy some grief, Shanks waves her off with a smirk. “I’ve had people do worse to me, Maki! Don’t worry about this rude little runt an’ me!” She sent him an exasperated look and rolled her eyes before turning back to Luffy. “Still, he shouldn’t be doing such things to absolute strangers -- what if you weren’t a friend?” Makino questioned worriedly. As the red-head opened his mouth to reply, the smallest spoke up.

 

“I can protect myself! Gramps showed me how to be tough and how to fight like a man! I wouldn’t lose to a… um… a _poochie_ like him!” Luffy climbed to his feet, ignoring the woman’s protests, and put his hands on his hips while he stared Shanks down with fiery eyes. “I’m strong, stronger than you, stronger than everyone! And I’m jus’ gonna get stronger!”

 

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, kiddo!”

 

The man felt a momentary stab of regret as the child literally flung himself at him, throwing punches and kicking with a strength that should have been expected, yet it still surprised him enough to make him fall backwards and off his stool. Tiny fists made contact with tanned skin and lips with scars from previous fights, promising bruises. The heels of small feet dug into his ribs and stomach, a feral growl escaping from a soft, round face with a ferocity that shouldn’t have had a home in a child, let alone a predator. The bar had cleared out fairly quickly once they saw the _demon child_ going after someone, fear pricking their feet and causing them to seek shelter.

 

Yet, behind all the anger and hate, he could clearly see loneliness and hurt in those round, dark eyes.

 

Makino was _so_ going to hate him by the time he gets to know this kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading <3


End file.
